Colbert, who is apparently proud of his Irish roots, responded by saying “But the Irish can handle it…The Irish do very well in bleak, depressing times. They’ve got those jigs and everything that they do.”

This quote from Colbert is already being bandied around on Twitter with users calling him a “clown”. It remains to be seen how his Irish Twitter followers react and how many he will lose.

Speaking about Obama’s position in the race, Krugman said he had “inherited [a depression] and unfortunately he has not taken us out of it.”

“Some mistakes on his part, but mostly a lot of opposition from the other guys. It’s a worldwide problem. We’re just stuck in what is really a depression.”

Jokingly suggesting a campaign slogan for the US President’s campaign he said, “The economy is growing, we’re adding jobs, but still terrible times for lots of people. ‘Not as bad as the Great Depression’ - I’ve been suggesting that as a campaign slogan but I don’t think it’s going to fly”.

The economist was appearing on the Comedy Central show to promote his new book “End this Depression”.